Lack of global climate deal won't crush green tech

People at green-technology companies will likely keep an eye on next month's global climate change negotiations in Copenhagen but they aren't betting their businesses on the outcome.

Research and events company Cleantech Group on Thursday released an analysis called "Why Cop15 Doesn't Matter," referring to the 15th conference of international climate change talks scheduled to start December 7 in Copenhagen.

With numerous political and economic issues complicating the picture, it would be surprising if a major breakthrough pact emerged next month. But whether there is a binding agreement won't have an immediate impact on the adoption of green technologies, according to research analyst Stephen Marcus, who was the principal author.

Instead, any progress in ongoing global negotiations is a more of a "milestone" toward a day when heavy polluters will need to account for the amount of greenhouse gases they emit.

"The private sector is not letting the (United Nations) bureaucracy get in the way of getting things done," said Cleantech group managing director Dallas Kachan during a conference call with reporters on Thursday. "The funds are already flowing."

The Cleantech Group estimates that between $5 billion and $6 billion in venture capital will go to green technologies, a category which received more money than software last quarter.

More significant is the amount of money and political commitment made by national governments around the world. Over the next few years, the United States will spend tens of billions of stimulus dollars to develop clean-energy industries, such as solar, wind, and plug-in vehicles. China, too, has made economic development around clean energy a national priority.

Government programs designed to promote clean-energy technologies, along with growing private-sector financial interest in green tech, will be the primary driver for investment in the short term, according to the Cleantech Group.

Writing on the wall
The U.S. Congress is now considering an energy and climate bill that calls for the creation of a cap-and-trade system to regulate greenhouse gases. Large polluters would be given a certain number of pollution permits and be able to buy and sell them to stay under a government-set cap on emissions.

On Thursday, the U.S. Senate's environment committee passed an energy and climate bill despite a boycott from Republican members. The bill faces an uncertain future as it still needs to pass other Senate committees and be reconciled with an existing House version before being passed into law.

Although one of the most discussed portions of the bill is cap-and-trade legislation, many green-technology investors and entrepreneurs say that other measures in the bill would have a more direct influence on their business plans.

For example, the bill calls for stepped-up efficiency standards and a mandate that utilities use a certain percentage of wind, solar, or geothermal energy in their power generation. By contrast, limits on carbon emissions and trading carbon permits would be phased in over several years with a percentage of the permits given away for free.

Still, there are a number of corporations lobbying for a climate bill because it sends a signal that there will be a cost attached to carbon emissions.

On Wednesday, a varied group of businesses, including large utilities, formed a new group to lobby Congress to quickly pass a climate bill now moving through the Senate. Called American Businesses for Clean Energy, the group was created to garner more public corporate support for a climate and energy bill that would limit greenhouse gases.

The initial companies are pushing for passage of a climate bill in the U.S. because they expect it to spur innovation.

"Many within the business community are urging Congress to adopt meaningful energy and climate legislation, so we can move forward with investments in technologies and infrastructure that will be needed to meet future energy demand, grow our economy, and protect our environment," Tom King, the president of utility National Grid, said in a statement.

[C_G_K]

Now that there is so much money at stake in the whole "global warming" fraud, expect to see the level of corruption increase dramatically as big business and big government get in bed together. Good science, good governance, and common sense will all be the victims here, as well as the average schmuck who is going to have money sucked out of his/her wallet to cover the cost of this madness.

It's becoming an unstoppable juggernaut that will increase poverty around the world as the cost of energy increases and it will set back human progress decades or more.

[jmarke1]

C_G_K & Endbringer - Would you really argue that global air temperatures and global water temperatures are not trending upward? Is there something that I am missing when I look at this NASA graph?
http://geology.com/news/2006/01/global-warming-graph-and-map.html

Do you have any evidence or hard data to support your statement that global warming is not a reality? Science academies of every major industrialized nation, plus Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa, etc.. are in agreement that global warming is in fact a reality. You say that they "aren't using science". What are these thousands of scientists using if it's not science? Is it Dubya Siense? Are all of their thermometers upside down? Are they all falsifying their data? Are they taking bribe from all of those evil giant multinational solar energy companies?

C_G_K - Discussions about the need to take action to confront climate change were taking place a long time before I was born, yet you would suggest that big business and big government have propagated this "fraud". For the majority of my lifetime I have only seen the opposite to be true, with companies like Exxon doing their best to confuse the general public about the scientific evidence to support global warming. Exxon was very successful at paying the same scientists who used to work for the tobacco companies to make false claims and cherry pick data in order to confuse people about the realities of global warming. As for big government, the Bush administration did everything in its power to rewrite reports and hide the science supporting global warming (http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/15148655/the_secret_campaign_of_president_bushs_administration_to_deny_global_warming). I would agree with you that with big oil in bed with the Bush administration we could "expect to see the level of corruption increase dramatically as big business and big government get in bed together", but not to the same ends as you describe.

[Endbringer]

Remember eugenics? Ya know, that "science" that had a "consensus" back at the beginning of the last century? This is not much different than that. They aren't using science, they are using computer models that have so many variables that are unknown that they are just making things up. Then there's the problem with the supposed known data. Tree ring data that was used to make the hockey stick graph was improperly used by the IPCC. The majority of temperature stations across the United States are violating their owns rules in how they are placed and collect the data. And 1998 was NOT the hottest year on record. NASA had to correct that because of a Canadian scientist that proved the formula used was incorrect.

But all that doesn't matter. These people will stop at nothing to remove freedom and liberty from people on the pretext that Mother Earth is more important, facts and the Constitution be damned.

[Endbringer]

Remember eugenics? Ya know, that "science" that had a "consensus" back at the beginning of the last century? This is not much different than that. They aren't using science, they are using computer models that have so many variables that are unknown that they are just making things up. Then there's the problem with the supposed known data. Tree ring data that was used to make the hockey stick graph was improperly used by the IPCC. The majority of temperature stations across the United States are violating their owns rules in how they are placed and collect the data. And 1998 was NOT the hottest year on record. NASA had to correct that because of a Canadian scientist that proved the formula used was incorrect.

But all that doesn't matter. These people will stop at nothing to remove freedom and liberty from people on the pretext that Mother Earth is more important, facts and the Constitution be damned.

[Endbringer]

Remember eugenics? Ya know, that "science" that had a "consensus" back at the beginning of the last century? This is not much different than that. They aren't using science, they are using computer models that have so many variables that are unknown that they are just making things up. Then there's the problem with the supposed known data. Tree ring data that was used to make the hockey stick graph was improperly used by the IPCC. The majority of temperature stations across the United States are violating their owns rules in how they are placed and collect the data. And 1998 was NOT the hottest year on record. NASA had to correct that because of a Canadian scientist that proved the formula used was incorrect.

But all that doesn't matter. These people will stop at nothing to remove freedom and liberty from people on the pretext that Mother Earth is more important, facts and the Constitution be d@mned.

[Endbringer]

Remember eugenics? Ya know, that "science" that had a "consensus" back at the beginning of the last century? This is not much different than that. They aren't using science, they are using computer models that have so many variables that are unknown that they are just making things up. Then there's the problem with the supposed known data. Tree ring data that was used to make the hockey stick graph was improperly used by the IPCC. The majority of temperature stations across the United States are violating their owns rules in how they are placed and collect the data. And 1998 was NOT the hottest year on record. NASA had to correct that because of a Canadian scientist that proved the formula used was incorrect.

But all that doesn't matter. These people will stop at nothing to remove freedom and liberty from people on the pretext that Mother Earth is more important, facts and the Constitution be d@@mned.

[Endbringer]

Remember eugenics? Ya know, that "science" that had a "consensus" back at the beginning of the last century? This is not much different than that. They aren't using science, they are using computer models that have so many variables that are unknown that they are just making things up. Then there's the problem with the supposed known data. Tree ring data that was used to make the hockey stick graph was improperly used by the IPCC. The majority of temperature stations across the United States are violating their owns rules in how they are placed and collect the data. And 1998 was NOT the hottest year on record. NASA had to correct that because of a Canadian scientist that proved the formula used was incorrect.

But all that doesn't matter. These people will stop at nothing to remove freedom and liberty from people on the pretext that Mother Earth is more important, facts and the Constitution be d@@mned.

[Endbringer]

Woah, *** happened?